I want to brew the Brewers Best Continental Pilsner with the given equipment and parameters that I have, which is not much. My basement is averaging 40-45°F (4-7°C) degrees which I think should be ok for the secondary / lagering phase. But my brew closet, where I ferment, averages 65°F (18°C). If I'm set on brewing this kit, should I do the primary in the 65°F (18°C) closet or the 40-45°F (4-7°C) basement, and are there any things I can do to help out. I'm not ready to buy a temperature control system, I am not able to do any type of ice water system that requires daily monitoring. I need to set it and forget it. I plan on rehydrating the yeast that comes with the kit. Thoughts?

1 Answer
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Put it in the basement the entire time. As we move towards winter, your basement should get cooler and that will help with the lagering. The optimal temp would be 50-55^dF, but you can run it a little cooler. The yeast will lag a bit and it just may need a blanket wrapped around it to get started, but it should ferment out fine in the end. As the fermentation process begins, the yeast should bring the beer up to that 50^df range.

So set it and forget it? I would just throw it in the basement and wrap a blanket it around it. Should be fine.

Following up: after 1 week in the basement with temps between 40-50 degrees and a blanket wrapped around the fermenter, there are no signs of fermentation activity at all. I'm going to wrap a newly arrived fermwrap around it today and hope that gets things going. Anything else I should do to try and start it up?
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Jason MooreNov 17 '12 at 15:36